The present invention relates to a method of making coffins, sarcophagi, cinerary urns and the like. The word “coffin” herein includes all such containers.
In the field of undertaking and the like, known types of coffin currently used are generally made of wood and subsequently painted for decoration according to the requirements of the person who orders the coffin.
These painted coffins are not free from drawbacks, which include the fact that the paints used are toxic both for the environment and for the painting workers who use them during the process for painting said coffin.
This toxicity is further observed in the areas neighboring the factory where the coffins are manufactured.
The competent local health services in fact detect a high rate of pollution and toxicity related to the emissions of vapors released by the paints of coffins.
For example, considering an annual productivity, in the Italian market alone, of 550,000 coffins per year, and considering an average consumption of 4 kilograms of paint to paint a single coffin, there is a total consumption of 2,200,000 kilograms of highly toxic substances which are dispersed into the environment, into the atmosphere or into the ground, depending on whether the coffin is cremated or buried.
If the coffin is buried or placed in a loculus, it is not disposed of but remains toxic and harmful for a period of time that currently, by law, in Italy is equal to ten years.
Once this period of time has elapsed, the coffins are exhumed and are disposed of with difficulty, very often by means of a process that does not safeguard the environment.
Coffins designed for cremation, are burned in crematoriums, thus emitting toxic fumes into the atmosphere caused by the burning of the paints with which they are painted, thus contributing to pollution.
Another drawback of known types of coffin consists in that continuous use of wood to build them contributes to global exploitation of the environment and of nature, reducing ever more the number of particularly valuable trees, such as for example larch and durmast oak.
In addition to the consumption of wood used directly to provide the coffin, one must consider the fact that a large amount of wood is rejected or otherwise not used due to the presence of surface defects that are not appreciated by consumers, such as for example knots and imperfections caused by the grain.